Book reviews

For some, heading off to travel alone can be at once a thrilling and daunting prospect. On the one hand, there's the excitement of the unknown combined with the perhaps more secret pleasure of getting away from everyone, and with that the chance to reinvent yourself. The flipside however, can be a fear of loneliness, worries about security and simple questions about the logistics of it all (how do you decide where the best spot to sit on a plane is?)

You've just finished your final morning of two weeks basking on the Perhentian Islands in northeast peninsular Malaysia, and you're ready for Thailand. You'll get to the border late afternoon, giving yourself enough time to cross at Sungai Kolok and get to the first provincial capital of Narathiwat before nightfall. You've heard the BBC, CNN and your Mum talk about the troubles in Thailand's far south, but you're confident that as long as you travel in daylight and sleep in the major centres you'll be fine. After all, you've got the latest edition (August 2007) of Lonely Planet's Thailand guidebook stuffed in your pack -- what could go wrong?

What a difference a new edition makes. Lonely Planet's brand new guidebook, Laos 6th edition, released August 2007, is easily the best on the market. The traveller looking for comprehensive coverage in a guidebook need look no further. An extra 60 pages long, this title packs an impressive punch, with a good balance of exhaustive coverage of the key destinations along with sound information on the lesser known spots.

Four and a half years of change have washed through Laos since the excellent second edition of Rough Guide's Laos was published. If you expect the new edition, released in February 2007, to be in the same league, prepare to be disappointed. Where Laos 2 was easily the best on the market, Laos 3 falls into the "read before departure ... and leave at home" category.

For the first-time visitor to Vietnam, Lonely Planet's Vietnam 9 overall is a fine production -- and is easily Lonely Planet's best swing at Vietnam -- even if the style police are trying to ruin the show.